Friday, July 22, 2011

Aquatic Sportsman

The Archer fish....found in brackish estuaries in Australia and Polynesia....these cool little hunters shoot water from their mouths and zap land based insects. When the prey is hit by the stream and falls into the water, the Archerfish has a meal. An archerfish shoots water by squeezing its gill covers. That pushes water forward along the roof of its mouth.The roof of the mouth has a small channel or groove to concentrate the hydo-force. The stream of water can fly more than 3 feet (90 centimeters) in the air.This fish fascinates me as an example of Darwinian adaptation. On a more remedial level, how cool is it that this fish hunts by spitting!